Chapter 8: The Meeting That Was Never Supposed to Happen
Thomas Vey called Destiny's phone at 7:14 the following morning.
She was in the kitchen.
Renee was across the table, both hands around a mug of coffee, watching her daughter answer.
"I saw you take the note," he said.
No greeting.
No name.
"I need to know if you read it before the officers saw you."
"I read it," Destiny said.
"No one else saw it."
A pause.
"Good."
"Who are you?"
Another pause, longer.
"Someone who worked with your father."
Destiny looked at her mother.
Renee gave one small nod.
"I know who you are," Destiny said.
"Thomas Vey.
You were his supervisor."
The silence on the other end was different this time.
Heavier.
"You've been busy," he said.
"My father is de@d.
I've had three years to be busy."
He didn't respond to that.
"I need to meet with you.
Not your mother.
Not whoever you've already spoken to.
You."
"Why me specifically?"
"Because your father left something behind.
Something he encrypted and routed through a personal account before he died.
We've known it existed for three years.
We haven't been able to access it." A pause.
"The access key was tied to a personal identifier.
Something only family would know."
Destiny's hand tightened on the phone.
"What kind of identifier?"
"A date.
A name.
A combination of both.
We don't know." His voice dropped slightly.
"Gerald knows the files exist.
That's why Diane was in that plaza yesterday.
She wasn't there by accident.
She was watching you because Gerald asked her to find out how much you knew."
"She grabbed me," Destiny said.
"She accused me of stealing."
"She panicked when you dropped your bag.
She thought you had something." He paused.
"She was wrong.
But Gerald won't believe that.
Which means you are not safe standing still."
Renee reached across the table and put her hand over Destiny's.
"Where do you want to meet?" Destiny said.
"Patricia Osei's office," he said.
"Tonight.
Eight o'clock."
Destiny looked at her mother.
"She's already involved, isn't she," he said.
It wasn't a question.
"Yes."
"Good.
I was hoping you'd find her." Something in his voice shifted — not quite relief, but close.
"Your father trusted her.
He told me once that if anything ever happened to him, she was the one person who would actually do something about it."
Destiny set her coffee cup down on the table.
"He was right," she said.
"Eight o'clock."
She ended the call.
The kitchen was quiet except for the sound of the refrigerator and the early morning traffic outside.
"He's coming in," Destiny said.
Renee exhaled slowly.
She set down her mug.
She looked at her daughter across the table — this girl who had walked into a plaza to buy a birthday card and had somehow walked straight into the center of something three years in the making.
"Your father would have handled this differently," Renee said quietly.
"He would have been more careful."
"I know."
"But he also would have gone to that meeting."
"I know that too."
Renee stood.
Picked up both mugs and carried them to the sink.
Stood there for a moment with her back to the room.
"I'll call Patricia," she said.
"You get ready for school."
"Mom—"
"You're going to school.
This doesn't stop your life." She turned around.
May you like
"That's the whole point.
That's what he was trying to protect."
